# Because I am me...



## vraiblonde

...I am never content with what the news people tell me, I must check it out myself and see 1) if it's true; and 2) why it is.

So we've all heard the old saw about how diet sodas "make" you gain weight, which is physically impossible but they all say it anyway.   A friend of mine just posted it again on her Facebook, and I don't like to get confrontational on other peoples' walls, so I am posting my response here:

Uh, bull####.

And WebMD backs me up. 

I have always suspected that people who drink diet sodas are obese because they think a zero-calorie soda will cancel out the other garbage they stuff their faces with.



> Popkin calls this the “Big Mac and Diet Coke” mentality.



Not that artificial sweeteners are a good thing, and soda isn't the best way to hydrate your body, but that is not what's making you fat.  The triple cheese and pepperoni pizza you had for dinner last night, however...

This is under Conspiracies because I think the media makes us retarded, and junk science takes on a life of its own, and I think they do it on purpose.  Some dork wants grant money to fund his crackpot ideas, he sends out a press release, and a bunch of lazy "journalists" report it as news, causing us to "think" stupid things like "zero-calorie soda makes you obese".


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## Bann

vraiblonde said:


> ...I am never content with what the news people tell me, I must check it out myself and see 1) if it's true; and 2) why it is.
> 
> So we've all heard the old saw about how diet sodas "make" you gain weight, which is physically impossible but they all say it anyway.   A friend of mine just posted it again on her Facebook, and I don't like to get confrontational on other peoples' walls, so I am posting my response here:
> 
> Uh, bull####.
> 
> And WebMD backs me up.
> 
> I have always suspected that people who drink diet sodas are obese because they think a zero-calorie soda will cancel out the other garbage they stuff their faces with.
> 
> 
> 
> Not that artificial sweeteners are a good thing, and soda isn't the best way to hydrate your body, but that is not what's making you fat.  The triple cheese and pepperoni pizza you had for dinner last night, however...
> 
> This is under Conspiracies because I think the media makes us retarded, and junk science takes on a life of its own, and I think they do it on purpose.  Some dork wants grant money to fund his crackpot ideas, he sends out a press release, and a bunch of lazy "journalists" report it as news, causing us to "think" stupid things like "zero-calorie soda makes you obese".



   I drink diet soda (maybe 1 or 2 a day, if that--it varies.)  I have been drinking diet soda since I was 19 and started drinking Tab because that was all that was left in the soda machine when I went on my break at work.   I have not gained weight from drinking diet soda.


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## struggler44

I've lost about 40lbs over the last year and the main thing I did was quit drinking diet soda, it's all I would drink for the most part. I drink water at every meal and occasionally will have a diet pepsi or coke zero..... even though they are zero calorie, they were plumpin' me. Guess everybody metabolizes different.


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## GWguy

I've lost about the same, but I was kinda forced into it by not be able to eat for a while!   

I did have an epiphany tho regarding my drinks.  I drink a lot of milk, half a gallon a day.  Only just recently did I look at the nutrient label.  The fat-free stuff is still 90 calories per 8 oz. that's a bunch of calories from something that's supposed to be so good for you.  So I cut back to one glass a day and have been holding my weight much better.


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## vraiblonde

Milk, to me, is a food and not a beverage.  I think of it like eggs, or meat, or tomato sauce - part of a recipe.

Struggler, you said losing the soda was the main thing; what were the other things?  I can't believe that a zero-calorie anything would cause weight gain.  Zero calories is zero calories.  The only thing I can think of is that the sodium in the pop was causing you to retain water?  But geez, 40 lbs of it - that can't be all water.

This stuff fascinates me.  I debunk "science" and "studies" all the time because their methodology is biased or the results flawed, but if there's a reason for me to change my mind I'm all for it.  So now I want to be obsessed with clinical tests involving diet sodas and weight.


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## GWguy

vraiblonde said:


> I can't believe that a zero-calorie anything would cause weight gain.  Zero calories is zero calories.  The only thing I can think of is that the sodium in the pop was causing you to retain water?



It's not because it's zero calories, it's because the sweetener is a chemical compound which reacts very poorly with some people's system and metabolism.  The compound itself causes the body to add weight.


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## MMDad

And that's why this is in conspiracy theories. "I read it in an email, therefore it's true."


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## vraiblonde

My big problem with these studies where the conclusion make no sense are correlation vs. causation.  Just because there appears to be a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B.  That's why I'm interested in their methodology and controls before I'll just believe their "results" - way too many sloppy scientists out there or ones who are being paid to come up with a certain conclusion.  Many times it's sloppy journalists, who get a press release that clearly says "correlation", and they change it to "cause" themselves.  And since your average Joe on the street doesn't read scientific journals, they just take whatever Buzzfeed says and that's what they believe.

There was some study, I'll have to do a search for it, where they found that diet sodas were "causing" extreme headaches.  Upon further examination, it turned out the can was the culprit.

It's just annoying how mass-media creates mass ideology.


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## MMDad

vraiblonde said:


> My big problem with these studies where the conclusion make no sense are correlation vs. causation.  Just because there appears to be a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B.  That's why I'm interested in their methodology and controls before I'll just believe their "results" - way too many sloppy scientists out there or ones who are being paid to come up with a certain conclusion.  Many times it's sloppy journalists, who get a press release that clearly says "correlation", and they change it to "cause" themselves.  And since your average Joe on the street doesn't read scientific journals, they just take whatever Buzzfeed says and that's what they believe.
> 
> There was some study, I'll have to do a search for it, where they found that diet sodas were "causing" extreme headaches.  Upon further examination, it turned out the can was the culprit.
> 
> It's just annoying how mass-media creates mass ideology.


One of the studies found that people who drink diet soda are more likely to gain weight than those who don't. That was spun into the diet soda causing the weight gain, and totally ignored the fact that people who already have weight issues are the ones who drink diet soda. The weight usually comes first, not the diet soda. It's like saying that people who take diabetes drugs are more likely to have hyperglycemia than those who don't, therefore the diabetes meds cause hyperglycemia.


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## Retrodeb54

vraiblonde said:


> *Milk, to me, is a food and not a beverage.*  I think of it like eggs, or meat, or tomato sauce - part of a recipe.
> 
> Struggler, you said losing the soda was the main thing; what were the other things?  I can't believe that a zero-calorie anything would cause weight gain.  Zero calories is zero calories.  *The only thing I can think of is that the sodium in the pop was causing you to retain water? * But geez, 40 lbs of it - that can't be all water.
> 
> This stuff fascinates me.  I debunk "science" and "studies" all the time because their methodology is biased or the results flawed, but if there's a reason for me to change my mind I'm all for it.  So now I want to be obsessed with clinical tests involving diet sodas and weight.



Milk _is_ a solid food.

Sodium added is why I can't drink them, I feel it. No weight gain, just sodium od.


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## struggler44

vraiblonde said:


> Milk, to me, is a food and not a beverage.  I think of it like eggs, or meat, or tomato sauce - part of a recipe.
> 
> Struggler, you said losing the soda was the main thing; what were the other things?  I can't believe that a zero-calorie anything would cause weight gain.  Zero calories is zero calories.  The only thing I can think of is that the sodium in the pop was causing you to retain water?  But geez, 40 lbs of it - that can't be all water.
> 
> This stuff fascinates me.  I debunk "science" and "studies" all the time because their methodology is biased or the results flawed, but if there's a reason for me to change my mind I'm all for it.  So now I want to be obsessed with clinical tests involving diet sodas and weight.



Pretty much eat the same, as always I try to cut back on carbs and eat more protein but the main thing that worked or triggered it was cutting back on soda; a long process as I don't exercise much but some days I work harder than others and nothing seemed to help until finally I ditched diet sodas. I quit cigarettes and ballooned about 80lbs over a 4 yr period, probably take me that long to get it off. I almost started smoking again because of the weight gain, would rather be stinky than fat.... Happy in vapeland now


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## withrespect

I drink diet soda.   I have since I was 13 and my weight has remained the same (fluctuating the same 10 pounds) for the past 17 years ...except for when I was pregnant...and I quit drinking diet soda then.


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## aps45819

withrespect said:


> ...except for when I was pregnant...and I quit drinking diet soda then.



because those weird chemical sweeteners aren't a good thing to put into the body of a baby.


So why do you think they're good for an adult?


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## Misfit

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/infographic-americans-say-sugar-more-harmful-marijuana-n51616

I had a point for posting this but I forgot what it was...



> Americans think sugar is more harmful to a person's health than marijuana, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week.


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## vraiblonde

withrespect said:


> except for when I was pregnant...and I quit drinking diet soda then.



So diet soda makes you pregnant.  Good to know.


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## RPMDAD

I remember when i used to eat more  fast food than i do now. It never ceased to amaze me to see an over weight individual in front of me order the super size meal with a diet drink.  I don't think it was the diet drink putting the weight on them.   JMHO


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## SamSpade

vraiblonde said:


> My big problem with these studies where the conclusion make no sense are correlation vs. causation.  Just because there appears to be a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B.  That's why I'm interested in their methodology and controls before I'll just believe their "results"



Normally, I agree. I usually want to at least SEE the rationale behind the statements. While a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B, it's both mathematically and scientifically inaccurate to dismiss it altogether. If there's a solid +1 or -1 correlation coefficient between the two items (meaning, roughly, there's a precise linear relationship between the two), it's dishonest to dismiss A as a cause of B.

As you observed with the can - there was another overlooked cause. Happens all the time - Bubonic plague was blamed on rats. It was fleas, or rather, germs they carried. Admittedly, the effect was in direct proportion to the amount of rat infestation, but the wrong reason.

But we do tests and studies all the time when we don't know the exact reasons behind an observable cause and effect. We give one group a pill, and another, a placebo and measure the differences. We do this because - well, we don't know every possible interaction, but we think we do. We do experiments this way - try something, and compare it to a trial where the outcome is known. It would be bad science to treat the two as unrelated, separate experiments.


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## Roman

I drink diet soda because I like the light taste of it, and not because I'm watching my weight. You'll see me at McDonald's getting a Big Mac or two, and then I'll get a diet Pepsi. Regular sodas are to syrupy, or sweet to me.


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## SamSpade

Roman said:


> I drink diet soda because I like the light taste of it, and not because I'm watching my weight. You'll see me at McDonald's getting a Big Mac or two, and then I'll get a diet Pepsi. Regular sodas are to syrupy, or sweet to me.



I'm the same way - most sodas are way too sweet for me. But some diet drinks really do taste awful; unless it's something like Coke or Sprite Zero, I just go with tea, coffee or water.


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## Lurk

vraiblonde said:


> My big problem with these studies where the conclusion make no sense are correlation vs. causation.  Just because there appears to be a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B.  That's why I'm interested in their methodology and controls before I'll just believe their "results" - way too many sloppy scientists out there or ones who are being paid to come up with a certain conclusion.  Many times it's sloppy journalists, who get a press release that clearly says "correlation", and they change it to "cause" themselves.  And since your average Joe on the street doesn't read scientific journals, they just take whatever Buzzfeed says and that's what they believe.
> 
> There was some study, I'll have to do a search for it, where they found that diet sodas were "causing" extreme headaches.  Upon further examination, it turned out the can was the culprit.



Too few get their scientific facts using Google Scholar.


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## Lurk

SamSpade said:


> Normally, I agree. I usually want to at least SEE the rationale behind the statements. While a relationship between A and B doesn't mean A causes B, it's both mathematically and scientifically inaccurate to dismiss it altogether. If there's a solid +1 or -1 correlation coefficient between the two items (meaning, roughly, there's a precise linear relationship between the two), it's dishonest to dismiss A as a cause of B.
> 
> As you observed with the can - there was another overlooked cause. Happens all the time - Bubonic plague was blamed on rats. It was fleas, or rather, germs they carried. Admittedly, the effect was in direct proportion to the amount of rat infestation, but the wrong reason.
> 
> But we do tests and studies all the time when we don't know the exact reasons behind an observable cause and effect. We give one group a pill, and another, a placebo and measure the differences. We do this because - well, we don't know every possible interaction, but we think we do. We do experiments this way - try something, and compare it to a trial where the outcome is known. It would be bad science to treat the two as unrelated, separate experiments.



Too few know of or understand the concept of epiphenomena.


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## vraiblonde

Lurk said:


> Too few know of or understand the concept of epiphenomena.



Ooh, a new fancy word for my collection!  

Weight loss, for all intents and purposes, is a simple equation:  +-3,500 calories = one pound.  Figure your BMR, then do some math to figure out how many calories a day you should be consuming to stay at/reach your optimal weight.  We do know that certain things influence that calorie +- and your metabolic rate but it is impossible to gain weight on a zero-calorie beverage.  Perhaps the chemicals in the fake sugar are conflicting with something else and causing a metabolic slow down, but that zero-calorie beverage in and of itself is not making you fat.  If you ingested nothing but Diet Coke for a week, you would lose weight, not gain.


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## puggymom

Maybe they just prefer diet soda. I always have even as a kid (by kid I mean 12ish). I do always feel weird ordering diet soda when I do eat fast food because of that though. Plus I'd rather not drink my calories.


RPMDAD said:


> I remember when i used to eat more  fast food than i do now. It never ceased to amaze me to see an over weight individual in front of me order the super size meal with a diet drink.  I don't think it was the diet drink putting the weight on them.   JMHO


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